


We're the Ones with the Scars and the Stripes

by covarla



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alive Hales, Alpha Peter Hale, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Everyone Is Alive, M/M, Magical Stiles Stilinski, Mates, Possibly Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-17
Updated: 2020-04-17
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:07:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23702074
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/covarla/pseuds/covarla
Summary: In which Peter becomes a True Alpha, everyone lives, Stiles does what he (or his magic) wants, and hi-jinks ensue.
Relationships: Peter Hale/Stiles Stilinski
Comments: 33
Kudos: 218
Collections: Secret Steter BFFs





	We're the Ones with the Scars and the Stripes

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ragga](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ragga/gifts).



> For Ragga - Hope this is what you had in mind with your True Alpha Peter prompt. 
> 
> Rating is General for now, though that may change in later chapters. I keep going back and forth on whether or not there should be smut. Tagging for the relationship just in case. If any smut, it will not be underage.
> 
> Title is from “Lead the Fight On” by She is We

The fire started in the laundry room. The window shattering with a crash drew their attention before the smoke detectors started to shriek. Peter ran down the stairs, but by the time he got to the room it was already engulfed. Richard was doing his best to contain it, but their small fire extinguisher was no match for a fire fed by lint and clothes. It was already starting to lick up the side of the house. He could hear shouting from the second floor as Sophia herded the kids downstairs. 

“Get everyone outside,” Talia ordered. She pushed past Peter and pulled out her cell phone. Her voice was calm when the call connected. “Hello. I need to report a fire.” 

Peter tuned her out as he hurried out to the living room. Mark and Sophia had gathered up the children. Sophia was pulling open the front door when Peter heard the unmistakable sound of a shotgun cocking. “Shit.” He dove for Sophia, knocking her to the floor. The shot hit the door, splintering the wood and causing chips to rain down on them. Peter shoved the door closed with his foot as another shot tore through the wood. He pulled Sophia away from the door, keeping them both low and out of sight of the windows.

“The back door is blocked with mountain ash,” Mark said as he rushed back into the room. “And more Hunters.” He had a streak of soot across his forehead and a sluggishly bleeding wound in his arm. 

He looked down the hallway that Mark had come down and back to the front door. If the door was ashed, then the windows likely wouldn’t get them far. Even if they got out of them, they’d just be trapped between the ash and the house, easy picking for the Hunters outside. “Downstairs,” he decided as he started for the kitchen. 

Talia joined him as he pulled open the cellar door. Smoke was starting to fill the first floor. Sophia and her daughter were urged through first. The wolves would be able to tolerate the smoke longer than the humans would. Peter urged Talia through as he listened for any sounds that the Hunters might be preparing to storm the house. 

All was quiet from outside. He pulled the cellar door shut behind him, hoping to slow down the spread of the fire at least. Peter hurried down the stairs. The rest of the pack was huddled in the middle of the cellar. For a moment, he was confused as to why they weren’t heading out the escape tunnels already. Then he saw Talia pushing frantically at a barrier. Somehow the Hunters had found out about the secret tunnels under the house. They were trapped.

Cora’s scream brought his attention to the cellar windows just as something liquid splashed through the bars. Cora turned quickly, shielding her human brother, but something sweet smelling splashed down her back. Peter reached forward, yanking both of the children away just as a lit rag was tossed through the window. The children screamed when the liquid caught on fire. Peter shoved Cora at her mother without even thinking about it. He scanned the room quickly, finding a jug of water and upending it over the fire.

Peter felt his wolf rise as around him the pack started to devolve into panic. Sophia was trying to calm the children, but couldn’t seem to stop them from crying. The wolves would be picking up the scents of fear and despair in the air. Talia was moving back and forth between the pack members, trying to keep everyone calm, but she had to know they were doomed. Peter felt his rage growing. He snarled as he moved for the barrier. His claws came out as he pushed and pushed. He couldn’t let it end like this. Derek and Laura were out of the house, at least. But the rest of the pack… Almost the whole pack…

Something shifted within him, a power that surged in his veins as he clawed and strained against the ash. A howl rose up from deep within his chest. Peter felt his eyes flash. His muscles rippled with new strength. He pushed forward and the barrier broke. Some sort of shockwave rippled past him as the mountain ash barrier fell, but Peter barely noticed. He kept falling forward as the shift took him. Between one thought and the next he went from two paws to four. He growled as he caught the scent of strangers in the tunnels. Peter sprang forward. Behind him the pack followed. A black wolf raced up beside him. Talia howled with him as they broke free of the tunnel and the pack answered their call. They were ready to hunt.

*****************

Stiles stood in front of a giant house. It wasn't one he had seen before and judging by the speed at which flames were climbing up the sides, not one he would likely see again. Distantly, he could hear screaming. He tried to call for help as flames engulfed the upper floors but no sound came out of his mouth. He was trapped in place, unable to move or speak. Yet, some part of his brain insisted that it was of the utmost importance that he save the people inside that house.

Inside his chest he felt a building pressure. It was like a balloon was slowly filling up inside of him, squeezing his organs out of place. He wasn’t sure if the pressure would be better or worse than the pain of the balloon popping. He raised a hand to his chest and closed his eyes. Something surged within him, pain and power in a dizzying rush. 

Howls ripped through the still night air.

His back arched off the bed with a scream. For a moment, he couldn’t tell if he was still at the strange house or back in his own room. He could still feel the heat of fire and smell the acrid scent of smoke. Stiles pushed himself up into a sitting position. Maybe a drink of water would help him clear his head. He screamed in surprise when he realized that he was surrounded by a ring of fire. Flames were licking at his blankets, curling the papers on his desk. His curtains were totally engulfed. The window shattered as the fire surged.

“Shit.” His father’s voice drew Stiles’s attention away from the fire. Stiles scrambled up onto the bed. The fire almost totally encircled him, but there were some lesser spots near the foot of the bed. Stiles hesitated only a second before leaping across the room. He stumbled as he landed, hissing as the fire licked at his bare feet. His father caught him and pulled him out of the room. Noah patted him down quickly before shoving him towards the stairs and following close behind. His father rushed into the kitchen as soon as they were downstairs. “Call 911,” Noah called over his shoulder as he reached under the sink for their fire extinguisher. “Call them and then get outside.”

“Dad…” Stiles picked up the house phone, but hesitated. He didn’t like the idea of his only parent running back towards a raging fire.

“Do it, Stiles.” His father cast a single glance at him before running back up the stairs. 

Stiles’s hand shook as he dialed. It seemed to take forever for the call to go through, though he knew logically that it wouldn’t have been more than a second. 

“911. State your emergency.”

“There’s a fire. 129 Woodbine Lane,” Stiles rattled off. He couldn’t tear his eyes off of the stairway. “My father, Sheriff Stilinski, is upstairs with the fire extinguisher.”

“Okay, Stiles.” The voice on the other end of the line is vaguely familiar. One of the deputies perhaps, though he can’t think of the name. Can’t think of anything except his father upstairs and the fire. “Take a deep breath.” Stiles does as the woman asked, only then realizing that he was starting to hyperventilate. “Are you on a landline or a cell phone?”

“Landline,” Stiles answered absently. 

“Alright.” He heard some clicking in the background, the keys of a computer as the woman types. “Help is on the way, but it’s not safe for you to stay in the house. I want you to hang up and go outside. Your father will be fine. He’ll be outside as soon as he can.”

Stiles wasn’t sure he quite believed the woman. “Okay,” he said. He hung up the phone and turned towards the stairway. “Dad!” His heart pounded in his chest as he waited.

“Get outside, Stiles!”

“The fire department is on the way,” Stiles called back up the stairs. “You should get out, too.”

Noah appeared at the top of the stairs, the dripping fire extinguisher still in his hand. “I’ll be fine, Stiles. Now, out!” His father gave him a stern look before rushing back down the hallway. 

He cast a glance at the thin trails of smoke coming down the stairs. There wasn’t anything he could do to help. Stiles just hoped that his father’s stubbornness didn’t keep him in the house longer than is safe. He stumbled out of the house and down the steps. The concrete was painful on his bare feet. Stiles backed away from the house. The street was quiet, but he could hear sirens in the distance. He looked back at the house. There was a steady stream of smoke coming from the back of the house, but no signs of fire from the front. 

It seemed like he had barely blinked before two fire trucks came to a halt right in front of the house. The firemen were swarming out of the trucks in a flurry of activity. Stiles managed to flounder through saying that his father was still inside when one of the guys approached him. Then he was shuffled out of the way while the firefighters got to work. He watched with bated breath as some of the firefighters ran into the house while others went around the side. 

He hissed in pain when hands landed on his arms. The hands let go only to settle on his back. They gently steered him away from the house and towards the open back of an ambulance. Stiles blinked at the EMTs as the two of them helped him up onto the ledge of the truck. He watched in surprise as the lady EMT peeled back the fabric of his sleeve, revealing a burn on his arm that Stiles didn’t remember getting. He jerked away from something cold on the bottom of his feet. The male EMT gave him a sharp look before resuming smoothing some soothing gel onto the soles of his feet. Those burns he did remember getting.

“Stiles.” His father was led over to the ambulance with the aid of one of the firefighters. He was limping slightly and had some soot in his hair, but seemed otherwise unharmed. Noah looked to the EMTs as he sat down beside Stiles. “How is he?”

The female EMTs, Rodriguez according to the name on her uniform, gave them both reassuring smiles. “Slight burns to his feet,” she said, “and one burn on his arm, but otherwise perfectly fine.”

Noah started to nod, but then stopped. He stared at Stiles’s arm. Noah gently reached forward, turning Stiles’s arm to get a better look at the burn. “Is that a hand print?”

*****************

"We need to talk," Talia said, drawing Peter's attention away from where the firefighters were swarming around the house. 

He had hoped that this discussion would have waited until they had settled the pack into a new house, or at least gotten hotel rooms for the night. "I should be able to find an apartment by the end of the week," he said. He kept his gaze watching over the numerous emergency responders. For the moment, no one was paying attention to them. "Until then I will try to stay out of your hair as much as possible.” He paused, considering his options. “Unless you would prefer I leave the territory?"

"Peter, no!" Talia's voice was both fond and exasperated. "You are still welcome in both my territory and my home. You are part of this family and Alpha status doesn't change that." Talia was smiling softly at him when he finally got up the courage to look at her.

"What was it you wished to talk about then?"

Talia grimaced. Her eyes flicked over towards the woods, where they had left the bodies when they had heard the approaching sirens. "That woman… That was Kate Argent."

Peter nodded solemnly. He turned to glance over at where Sophia was sitting in the back of an ambulance. Minor smoke inhalation, but enough to warrant an oxygen treatment. "Gerard is going to be a problem."

"Yes." Talia sighed and scrubbed a hand over her face. "I have heard that his son is more reasonable, maybe..."

Whatever else Talia was going to say was forgotten when a commotion started among the responders. Peter heard the crackle of a dispatch radio. There was too much other noise and too much distance between him and the radio for him to hear what was said, but the result was two of the deputies hopping into a cruiser and racing away with the lights on. Peter exchanged a glance with Talia. She appeared just as curious as him. Together, they moved towards the nearest cruiser.

“What’s going on?” Talia asked, her voice full of calm authority.

Deputy Diaz glanced at Talia and seemed to consider for a moment. He looked down at the radio in his hand before leaning into the cruiser to hang it up. “There is another fire,” the deputy said as he straightened again. 

“Oh.” Talia’s expression became one of polite concern. “I hope they can contain it.”

“It seems like they have it mostly under control.” Diaz glanced towards the house. After a moment, he shook his head. “It’s weird,” he said, glancing back at Talia and Peter. “It’s just that it’s so rare for there to be two fires in one night in a place as small as Beacon Hills, let alone two fires at almost the exact same time.” The deputy looked at Talia. “One at the home of the District Attorney.” He nodded down the road back towards town. “The other at the Sheriff’s house.”

Peter raised an eyebrow at that. Talia appeared to share his surprise. It took everything in him to keep from looking towards the woods where Kate’s body was waiting. He knew the fire at their house had nothing to do with Talia’s work and everything to do with the prejudices of psychopathic Hunters. But, he didn’t know if the fire at the Sheriff’s home was somehow related to Kate’s plans or just an odd coincidence. Peter didn’t think he’d ever met the Sheriff. As far as he was aware the family was perfectly human. He glanced at Talia. She looked back at him and appeared equally surprised. 

“Well,” Talia said after a moment to recover from her surprise. “I hope the Sheriff and his son are alright.”

The deputy nodded. “Some minor burns,” he replied, “plus the damage to the house.” He looked towards the other two deputies still on the property before turning back to Talia. “I’ll have to confirm with the Sheriff, but I suspect that he will want to assign a protective detail for your family."

"Oh, I don't think that's really necessary," Talia dismissed with a polite laugh. She waved a hand at the house. “It’s not like they can try again anytime soon, but if it would make you feel better to station a car outside of the hotel we end up staying in I won’t object.”

Diaz nodded with a small, almost apologetic smile. “Thank you, ma’am,” he said. He looked over at the other deputies. “I’ll let you know what the Sheriff says. Excuse me.”

Talia and Peter made their way over towards where the rest of the family was gathered. Cora immediately separated from the rest of the pack to rush to her mother’s side. She latched on to Talia, smelling strongly of anxiety. Richard came forward at a more sedate pace. He brushed a kiss to his wife’s cheek before resting a hand on Cora’s shoulder.

“Laura and Derek should be home soon,” Richard announced. “I told her to pick up Derek from practice early, but not what happened. I didn’t want her driving while upset.”

“Probably a good idea,” Talia agreed. She soothed a hand up and down Cora’s back as she looked over the rest of the family. “Once they get here, I want you to take the kids and check into the hotel downtown.” 

Peter looked over at the ambulances. They weren’t packing the human pack members off to the hospital, but Sophia still had an oxygen mask on. April and Eric at least appeared to have recovered enough not to need treatment any longer and were instead leaning against the ambulance while Mark hovered near his wife. “Mark is going to want to stay with Sophia if she has to go to the hospital,” he pointed out.

Talia nodded. “Yes.” She glanced over at the ambulances but her gaze eventually settled on the house. The flames were out, but it was still swarming with people. There would likely be deputies and fire inspectors in and out of the building for several days as they tried to determine the cause of the fire. “I don’t like having the pack split up right now, but we will just have to be vigilant.” Talia looked over towards Peter. “Peter, I’d like you to stay with me until the area is clear and we can dispose of things…” 

“Of course.” Peter was well used to being the one to clean up evidence of supernatural activities. While on the one hand, it was tempting to arrange for the police investigation to turn towards the Argents, it was also too much of a risk. He didn’t need anyone looking too quickly into the marks on the bodies. It would be much better if the hunters just seemed to… disappear. 

“I suppose I should contact Chris to see if he wants to collect Kate,” he said. He looked over at Talia. “Would you reach out to our oh so helpful Emissary to see if he knows anything about the Stilinskis?”

Talia nodded, already pulling out her phone. “I want to know how, or even if, they are connected to Kate,” she said. “If Kate had help, then there is a second group of Hunters out there that pose a threat.”

Peter nodded. He looked towards the road, where Laura’s Camaro was now parked near one of the cruisers. Laura and Derek were staring at the house in shock. Richard pulled away from them to go towards his children. One of the deputies was also heading their way, but Peter had faith in Richard to handle that. Meanwhile, Peter pulled out his phone to start to track down the number for Chris Argent through his various contacts. He looked at the burned down remains of the pack house. It was going to be a long night.


End file.
